Cheryl Lynn at Digital Femme, after encountering this manga image:
The racist image that I included in my original post? I plucked that image from volume seven of the manga Eyeshield 21. Eyeshield 21 is published in English for English-speaking countries by VIZ Media. The image I posted is from the English language version of the manga that is easily obtainable here in the United States. Volume seven of the series had a publishing date of April 4, 2006.How many people were aware that this book contained a racist image that is humiliating to black people and still allowed this book to arrive upon American shores unedited? How many people saw that image, shrugged their shoulders, and thought that the feelings of black people were not worth the time and effort it would take to edit or remove the panel?
January 8th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Wow. The only thing missing from that panel is watermelon; the cartoon is basic Distorted Race Cariacture 101. It looks like something from the nationalist web site.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I’m a semi-regular reader of Cheryl’s blog…I don’t know what to say, really. It is a fairly ridiculous caricature. I’m imagining by the reaction she has, that ridiculous caricatures aren’t the standard for the book she found it in…and trust her judgment that it is a fairly offensive piece.
January 8th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Probably the same people who realized that we have freedom of speech in this country and that regardless of who it offends artworks should not be edited to please the current political climit.
That being said, I would never even think of using such a racist depiction in one of my works, but this artist chose to do so and we have to respect that if the first amendment means anything.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:12 am
Hopefully, racist caricatures will be frowned upon in *any* political climate.
I’m not sure it’s a “free speech” issue, really…nobody (as far as I can tell) is saying that the government should take action or that the artist shouldn’t be allowed to depict whatever they want; the point is that the caricature is tasteless and offensive, and publishing it is an unwise business move on Viz’s part.
Of course, complicating things, there’s the general tendency for manga fans to object to alterations of the original material; possibly this is why Viz let this one through?
January 9th, 2007 at 1:07 am
>>Hopefully, racist caricatures will be frowned upon in *any* political climate.
Agreed.
>>Of course, complicating things, there’s the general tendency for manga fans to object to alterations of the original material;
As well they should. A creator’s vision shouldn’t be altered, no matter how offensive.
Also, I’d like to get some context for this image if anybody has read the book.
January 9th, 2007 at 4:49 am
Looking at the original illustration: how else would a manga artist working in such a broad style depict characters of African extraction? That it resembles imagery now considered offensive could be a coincidence.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:02 am
It could only realistically be described as a coincidence if those drawing and publishing were completely unaware that such images are offensive, or that there has been a history of offensive depictions of black people in western literature. Which seems pretty unlikely, frankly.
January 9th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I disagree. It’s entirely possible for a Japanese born and raised artist to be unaware that this style of art would inflame some people in the US.
January 9th, 2007 at 9:57 am
The suggestion of this blogger offends me. As much as changing the voices of the maid in the old Tom & Jerry cartoons does. Or taking Song of the South off the shelves. Just because it’s offensive now doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And how can it be wrong for a Manga artist to use such depictions when comedians like Dave Chappelle use them?
And again, I’d like some context. For all we know it was used in a satirical way.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
If you want to see the panel in context, the story it came from was posted here:
http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/2822622.html